Iran’s top intelligence chief has been killed following a joint airstrike in which both the United States and Israel participated. This comes only one day after Donald Trump threatened to send the country “to hell”.
Majid Khademi, head of the intelligence division of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is said to have been directly responsible for war crimes against Israel, writes The Telegraph.
Khademi is one of several dozen prominent political and military figures in Iran who have been killed by strike forces from the United States and Israel since the war began on 28 February.
On Monday morning, Tehran warned of a “devastating and comprehensive” retaliation against any American attacks on the country’s civilian infrastructure. This followed a threat by US President Donald Trump on Sunday to target Iranian power plants and bridges if Tehran refused to lift the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Tuesday will be power plant day and bridge day, all in one … Open the damn strait, you crazy bastards, or you are going to live in hell—just wait and see! Praise be to Allah,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
The Iranian military responded with threats to escalate its own attacks.
“If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the next phases of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be far more devastating and extensive.”
The Iranian navy also warned that the Strait of Hormuz “will never return to its previous state” and promised to introduce a “new order in the Persian Gulf”. Among other things, they have stated that they plan a kind of toll system, whereby all ships wishing to pass through the strait must pay a duty.